1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus for performing a recording operation by ejecting ink toward a recording medium.
2. Discussion of Related Art
U.S. Patent Application Publications US 2006/0028500 A1, US 2006/0028507 A1 and US 2006/0050101 A1 (corresponding to JP-2006-44111A) disclose an inkjet printer including: four line-type inkjet heads; an input sheet accommodator disposed below the inkjet heads and configured to accommodate a media sheet as a recording medium; a feeder belt disposed between the input sheet accommodator and the inkjet heads and having some degree of stickiness; and an output sheet accommodator disposed above the inkjet heads and configured to accommodate the media sheet that has been subjected to a recording operation. In this inkjet printer, the media sheet is fed from the input sheet accommodator onto the feeder belt via two pairs of feed rollers, and the media sheet held by the feeder belt owing to the stickiness is then is fed to an opposed position opposed to the inkjet heads. The recording operation is performed on the media sheet thus positioned in the opposed position, by casing ink to be ejected from each inkjet head toward the positioned media sheet. After being subjected to the recording operation, the media sheet is separated by a separator plate from the feeder belt, and the separated media sheet is then fed by two pairs of feed rollers toward the output sheet accommodator.
In the above-described inkjet printer, the media sheet is inevitably bent or curved by the two pairs of feed rollers while being fed from the input sheet accommodator to the feeder belt. Where the media sheet is provided by a relatively rigid sheet such as post card or business card, the media sheet is likely to be curled (i.e., remain bent or curved) even after its passage through the two pairs of feed roller, so that the media sheet could be fed to the opposed position (opposed to the inkjet heads) with the media sheet only partially sticks onto the feeder belt. Particularly, if a leading end of the media sheet is not held on the feeder belt, there would be a risk that the leading end of the media sheet might be brought into contact with nozzle opening surfaces of the respective inkjet heads since a space between an outer circumferential surface of the feeder belt and the nozzle opening surfaces of the inkjet heads is small. The contact of the leading end of the media sheet with the nozzle opening surfaces of the respective inkjet heads could result in problematic jamming of the media sheet between the feeder belt and the inkjet heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,280 (corresponding to JP-2005-59339A) disclose an inkjet printer including: four line-type inkjet heads; a feeder belt disposed in a position opposed to ink opening surfaces of the respective inkjet heads; and input and output sheet accommodators that are disposed in respective opposite sides of the inkjet heads in a direction parallel to the nozzle opening surfaces. In this inkjet printer, the media sheet accommodated in the input sheet accommodator is fed onto the feeder belt without the media sheet being substantially curved by a pair of feed rollers (that are disposed between the input sheet accommodator and the feeder belt), and sticks to the feeder belt so as to be held in the feeder belt. A recording operation is performed on the media sheet fed by the feeder belt, by causing ink to be ejected from the inkjet heads onto the media sheet. The media sheet, after having been subjected to the recording operation, is separated by a separator from the feeder belt, and is then fed to the output sheet accommodator. Thus, in this inkjet printer, the media sheet is not substantially bent or curved while being fed from the input media accommodator onto the feeder belt, so that the media sheet in its entirety sticks onto the feeder belt so as to be reliably held on the feeder belt, thereby making it possible to avoid contact of the media sheet with nozzle opening surfaces of the respective inkjet heads and accordingly eliminate a risk of jamming of the media sheet between the feeder belt and the inkjet heads.